Sunday, December 27, 2015

Jerusalem had been the goal of the first crusade, and Jerusalem became the capital of the Kingdom named after it. Understanding of Balian's world, therefore, cannot be complete without understanding what Jerusalem was like during his lifetime. Jerusalem is also the scene of many episodes in the first two books of the Balian d'Ibelin series. What follows is a description of Jerusalem as it would
have been just before it was captured by Saladin.

The Countryside to the East of Jerusalem Today

The
Holy
City of Jerusalem crowns a hill in semi-arid, hilly countryside and was
in
crusader times encircled by tall, white-stone walls punctuated with
square
towers, seven gates and at least three, possibly more, posterns. To the
east, south and west, the land sloped away sharply, but to the north the land was fairly level. There
were olive
orchards dating back to the time of Christ to the East, and in the
crusader
period the city was probably surrounded by other kinds of orchards as
well. Common
at this time were citrus orchards, but figs, dates, and almonds were
also cultivated to serve the urban population. Almost certainly, there
were also vineyards
surrounding Jerusalem during the Christian period as wine was an
important
product of the kingdom, necessary for the liturgy and consumed in large
quantities locally.

Picture
of Jerusalem’s Walls

Life
within crusader Jerusalem would have been exceptionally pleasant for the
period. When the first crusaders took the city by storm in 1099 they carried
out a massacre of the garrison and population that — while not as apocalyptic as
often portrayed — left the city largely depopulated. The policy of not allowing
any Muslims or Jews to live in the Holy City further reduced the population.
The early kings of Jerusalem were compelled to invite Christian settlers not
just from the West but from Syria as well. Still the population never fully recovered and
is estimated to have been no more than ca. 20,000 people in the second half of
the 12th century. In consequence, Jerusalem was not densely
populated and there were gardens and open spaces inside the walled city.

A
Roof-top Garden in Jerusalem Today

Starting
with life at the top, the religious and secular authorities both maintained
palaces in Jerusalem. The patriarch’s palace was located beside the Church of
the Holy Sepulcher, and unfortunately nothing is now left of it. The royal family initially occupied the
powerful citadel, whose oldest tower allegedly dated back to the reign of the
biblical King David. However, they began construction of a “modern” palace in
the first quarter of the 12th century. Although this too has been
lost to us, contemporary accounts mention that the royal palace had extensive
gardens. Since it was started by King Fulk of Anjou, it was probably inspired
by similar to the palaces he was familiar with in France in this period — think
of Eleanor of Aquitaine’s magnificent residence in Poitiers, for example, but
it would have had “Eastern” elements of design and landscaping as well.

Citadel
of David — the “Old Palace”

The
gardens,
for example, would have included palms, citrus fruits, pomegranates and
other distinctive Mediterranean vegetation, such as oleander and
hibiscus. More important, this palace (like the Patriarch's) was not
fortress intended for defense (as
castles in Western Europe), but rather had a purely residential and
representational character. There was no need for narrow, “arrow-slit”
windows
or massive walls. On the contrary, the crusader states had major
glass-making
centers, notably at Beirut and Tyre, and glazed windows were quite
common,
certainly among the upper classes. So the royal and patriarchal palaces
would
not have been dark, dingy and smoky, as in the castles depicted in
Hollywood,
but rather sunny, well-lit and designed with cross-ventilation for
cooling in
the summers. The use of mosaic and tile floors would, furthermore, have
been
inherited from their predecessors (and most of the houses in Jerusalem
were
taken over in-tact after the Christians seized control), as was the use
of
slender columns, often dating from the Roman period. A description of
John d’Ibein’s palace in
Beirut dating from 1212, for example, mentions mosaic floors so lifelike
the
observer was afraid of leaving his foot-print in the “sand” and
polychrome
marble walls as well as fountains and gardens. It offered splendid views
of the
sea as well — so large windows. While
John’s residence was built half a century later, it was also the home of
a mere
nobleman rather than a king. I think we can assume the royal palace of
the
Jerusalem and also the Patriarch’s palace were both very luxurious
indeed.

Tiles
Walls Today

Besides
these two main palaces, Jerusalem housed the headquarters of the Knights
Templar on the Temple Mount and the headquarters of the Knight’s Hospitaller, a
huge establishment that took up a large city block and enclosed four churches,
wards for over two thousand patients, a hospice for pilgrims, administrative
buildings, barracks, kitchens etc. These complexes were large, multi-story
stone buildings, again with glazed windows, courtyards, and sanitation. The
accommodation for the Master and senior officers of these powerful orders would
hardly have been less luxurious than for the king and patriarch.

Temple
Mount Today:

The hexagonal
building on the left was a Baptistry from Crusader Times. On the right:
The "Dome of the Rock" which in Crusader Jerusalem was converted into a
church and known as the Temple of Gold

There
were also lesser palaces for nobles and wealthy merchants. The foundations of these houses in some cases
dated back to the Roman period, and many were Byzantine or Fatimid since the
capture of Jerusalem had not entailed whole scale destruction of the
architectural substance. Arab sources stress that even when they re-took
Jerusalem in 1187 (after a siege that did entail the use of stone throwers and
mining), they still found many beautiful residences with “superb columns of
marble and slabs of marble and mosaics in large quantities.” (Ibn al-Athir)
Much of this ornamentation would have pre-dated the Christian period, but not
all of it. Certainly, many churches were built and/or re-decorated in the
crusader period and many of the craftsmen came from or were trained in
Constantinople or by Byzantine masters. Undoubtedly some of these craftsmen
also found employment on secular as well as sacred building projects.

Houses with Medieval Features in Jerusalem Today

Life in
any medieval Christian city was, of course, characterized by the pervasive
presence of the Church and nowhere — except possibly in Rome — was the Church
more important than in Jerusalem. There was not just the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher and the Calvary Chapel, but dozens of churches catering to different
Christian communities, Syrian and Armenian, Greek and Maronite, as well as the
Latins. There were also the two great mosques on the Temple Mount which had
been converted into churches, as well as the austere but lovely Church of St.
Anne and many more.

As for
the bulk of the population, while accommodation would have ranged from the
comfortable to the squalid as in any city in the world, nevertheless, this
being an ancient, eastern city, it was well supplied with public cisterns,
reservoirs, and baths. Indeed, most of the buildings in Jerusalem at this time
had rain-fed cisterns to supplement the municipal water supply. There was also network of open and covered
markets. The covered markets are particularly intriguing and parts are still
standing today. They were like tunnels, often running almost the entire width
of the city, with vaulted ceilings and flanked by shop after shop. The paved
walkway between the shops had steps to accommodate the slope and were not
suitable for horses.

Covered
Market in Jerusalem

Due to
the annual pilgrim traffic, Jerusalem was also a city with many hostels and
taverns, and the shops of the city would have catered to pilgrims by selling all the "exotic" things pilgrims sought
from relics to silk and Turkish carpets. They would
have sold all the necessities for everyday living as well: shoes, textiles, candles and
soap, for example. The city had separate markets for grain, pigs, poultry, fish, herbs and
spices. It had quarters for the jewelers, gold and silver smiths, for textile
goods, leather goods, glass, and weapons. My favorite is the “street of bad
cooking,” which was apparently a medieval precursor of “food courts” for “fast
food.”

Another
Street Scene in Modern Jerusalem

Last but
not least, the streets must have been a veritable “tower of Babel” with the
native population speaking Arabic, Greek, Armenian and French, while pilgrims
came from the far corners of the earth speaking Norse, English, Spanish,
Italian, Hungarian, German and more.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Balian was a "poulain" -- a native of the crusader kingdoms, born and raised in "Outremer." Although his personal wealth was rural (as for feudal lords in the West), he lived in a society that was exceptionally urban for its time.

In fact, it has been
estimated that roughly 50% of the Frankish population in the crusader kingdoms
was urban. That represents a much higher proportion than in Western Europe at this
time, and by the post-Hattin era, even the majority of noblemen were
dependent on non-agricultural income for their wealth. In short, the degree of
urbanization in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, particularly the 13th
century Kingdom, resembled the Italian city states more than the large western
kingdoms such as England and France. To understand the crusader kingdoms,
therefore, it is important to understand the urban economy.

The Medieval cities of the Holy Land had many covered markets similiar to these in

Acre (left) and Jerusalem (right).

The most
obvious source of wealth was the control of the key ports along the coast of
the Levant which meant the points at which the “riches of the Orient” were
transshipped for export to the increasingly prosperous population of the West.
It was in Beirut and Tyre, Acre and Caesarea, Jaffa and Ascalon that Damascus
steel and Indian spices, Ethiopian incense and Nubian gold, Persian carpets and
Chinese silk, African ivory and Egyptian papyrus were exported to the hungry
markets of Italy, and from there onward to the Holy Roman Empire, France,
Iberia and far off England and Scandinavia.

The port of Acre was the most important in the crusader states.

In addition to
these transshipped items, the crusader kingdoms themselves had a number of
export goods that were highly lucrative. While sugar was probably the most
important bulk commodity, the export of Holy Relics and souvenirs should not be
under-estimated. By some estimates, the population of Jerusalem doubled during
the summer pilgrimage (tourist) season, and all of those pilgrims wanted to
take some mementos home with them as well as gifts for family and friends, just
like modern tourists today.

All those
pilgrims also needed a place to stay and food to eat — and not just in
Jerusalem. The pilgrimage sites included not just obvious sites such as
Bethlehem and Nazareth, but also the site of every moment in Christ’s life as
recorded in the Gospels, and places associated with the Virgin Mary, Mary
Magdalene, and other saints. There was hardly a place in the entire Kingdom of
Jerusalem that could not lay claim to some biblical event of importance, and
devout pilgrims, who ventured so far at such cost and risk, generally stayed
until the fall sailing season, which meant spending roughly six months in the
Holy Land. In short, the pilgrimage “service industry” was, in proportion to the
population of the time, at least as important as tourism is to Israel today.

The Knights Hospitaller provided hostles, hospices and hospitals for the pilgrims. Above the Hospitaller compound in Acre.

Last but not
least, a large proportion of the Latin settlers were skilled craftsmen. Serfs
could not legally leave their villages and lands (and most probably didn’t want
to), so the pilgrims, whether armed and unarmed, were predominantly men of
higher status: craftsmen, guildsmen, or merchants. They brought their skills
with them, and established themselves in the cities and towns of the crusader
kingdoms, where they worked side-by-side with native craftsmen. Here some of
the most productive if most prosaic of inter-cultural exchanges took place in
the development of dying and cloth-making, leather-working, gold and silver smithing, pottery, carpentry, masonry, glass-working, and all the countless
other skills essential to survival and a high contemporary standard of living.

An example of crusader pottery.

Based on the
names of the streets alone, it is clear, for example, that Jerusalem had a high
concentration of furriers and tanners, but also gold and silver smiths. Pottery
from the region, glazed on the inside, is known to have been a particularly
popular practical ware, (an early version of Teflon), and that glass-makers and
glass-blowers were renowned. The massive construction projects undertaken
primarily in the mid-12th century, ensured work for carpenters,
masons and sculptors, and the remaining fragments of their work are testimony
to the high quality of their workmanship.

At the
high-end, Jerusalem also exported illustrated manuscripts from a scriptorium
established by the Canons of the Holy Sepulcher. Books produced in such a
sacred place had an added value beyond the high quality of the work, and
undoubtedly represented one of the luxury goods with the highest margins exported
from the crusader kingdoms — albeit, as with all truly valuable, custom made
objects, only in very small quantities.

The crusader
kingdom of Jerusalem, far from being a wasteland inhabited by barbarians, was a
highly cultured, economically dynamic powerhouse.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Welcome today's entry for the

indieBRAG Christmas Blog Hop:

Christmas in the Land of Balthasar

Morning Prayers at the "New Jerusalem:" Lalibela

This year I have
the privilege of celebrating Christmas in one of the oldest Christian countries
on earth: Ethiopia.

Many of you will
know that it was in Ethiopia that “Lucy,” the 3.2 million-year-old skeleton of
a female human ancestor, was discovered in 1974. It is less commonly known that
not only did Christianity become the state religion of Ethiopia before it was
adopted by Constantine for Rome, it was also the home of Balthazar — at least
according to Ethiopian legend.

Ethiopia is a
country rich in legend, history and culture. The Ethiopian royal family (not
deposed until the last quarter of the 20th century) claimed its
direct decent from the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. “Sheba?”
you ask, “but wasn’t that was in Yemen.” Not according to the Ethiopians—and
there is substantial archaeological evidence to support them! Modern research
suggests that the culture that flourished on both sides of the Red Sea and led
to the establishment of the ancient cities in Yemen originated — like mankind
itself — in Ethiopia.

The Queen of Sheba by Edward Poynter, 1890

Ethiopia was also
home to a people that practiced a form of Judaism so ancient it was alien to
the modern Jewish rituals and their right to immigrate to Israel was disputed. Furthermore,
the Ethiopians claim to possess the original Ark of the Covenant, i.e. the wooden chest in which the stone
tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments was stored and for which Solomon built the Temple
in Jerusalem. If that sounds far-fetched, remember that according to the Bible
Moses’ wife was “Ethiopian.” (And for those of you who want to read more, Graham
Hancock has written a book called The
Sign and the Seal.)

During religious processions, people dance in the streets, often behind a replica of the Ark.

But all that
pre-dates the legend of Balthazar.

According to
Christian tradition, three wise-men (also called magi or
kings) came “from the East” following a bright star in search of the King of
the Jews.

"The Three Wise Men" by James Tissot

That star came to a halt over the stables in which Mary had given
birth to Christ. The three wise men entered and knelt before the infant Jesus,
presenting gifts of gold, incense and myrrh.With time the three magi were given names: Melchior, Casper and
Balthazar.They were also given characteristics:
Casper was old and bearded, Melchior middle-aged, and Balthazar--at least since
the 12th Century--was increasingly depicted as a young black man. It
is perhaps not coincidental that the 12th Century was the period in
which Christians controlled Jerusalem and in which an Ethiopian prince lived
there in exile. (This prince, incidentally, was to build a complex of churches
hewn out of bedrock after the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin, allegedly in an
effort to construct a New Jerusalem. But that is another story....)

The Ethiopians
claim the black magi, Balthazar, as one of their own—and they have some justification. First, Ethiopia was at the time of Christ a powerful and wealthy
empire. It had an advanced, sophisticated and hierarchical culture with royal
palaces, massive temples, and a written language. Ethiopia’s trading ties stretched
up the Red Sea to Egypt, the Levant and Greece, and also across the Gulf of Aden and
the Arabian Sea to India. The products they sold included not just ivory but
gold, incense and myrrh.

The "Adoration of the Magi" by Martin Schongauer

According to the
Bible, the three magi returned to their own countries. The Ethiopians believe
that Balthazar returned to Ethiopia and began spreading Christianity at once.
Thus, they argue, there were already many Christian communities in Ethiopia
even before their King converted and made it the state religion of his empire
in AD 345 — before Constantine made it the state religion of the Roman Empire.

Christianity has
been the primary religion of Ethiopia ever since, although nowadays roughly one
third of the population is Muslim. The language of the Ethiopian Church is
still the ancient Semitic language of Ge’ez, spoken in AD 345, and the liturgy
most closely resembles Syrian Orthodox traditions. The Ethiopian Orthodox
Church shares the adoration of Mary, the Holy Trinity and many saints with
other Christian churches, notably the Apostles and St. George, but they also
have their own Ethiopian saints.One of
my favorites is St. Yared, who is credited with developing Ethiopian Church
music.

St. Yared in a Ethiopian Church Painting

Daily life in
Ethiopia is dominated by the Church to this day. Before dawn the first service
is sung — and broadcast via loud speakers to the surrounding community.
Services are sung again around dusk. Services last up to three hours and never
less than 90 minutes. Each church is dedicated to a different saint and on that
saint’s day there are special services. Every day of the year, people
congregate in the yard and spill out into the street at one or more churchs,
with the largest crowds at the church whose saint's day it is.

Driving to work means
passing crowds of men and women, both wearing white cotton shawls over their
heads and shoulders, gathered before one or more of the four churches I pass in
my 15 minute drive.Drivers often bow
their heads and cross themselves as they pass. People sell candles, crosses and
other religious trinkets before the churches. Beggars, particularly handicapped
beggars, congregate there as well.

Ethiopians also
take fasting very seriously. In fact, they fast — meaning they eat no meat,
fish, eggs or dairy products — roughly 150 days out of the year. They fast for
forty days before Christmas, just as they fast before Easter.

Christmas itself
is celebrated on January 8. It is celebrated with mass and feasting and
gift-giving to commemorate the gifts brought to the Christ child by the magi.
The Church services have special Christmas music, but unlike our carols they
are not song sung by the congregation and certainly not broadcast over the
radio. A special bread is baked in an outside clay oven and served with a
meal of raw, ground beef — for those who can afford it. Others slaughter a
sheep or a lamb.

Hearing Mass Outside - Lalibela

There are no
special decorations associated with Christmas. No Christmas Trees or colored
lights. No Santa Claus. And no shopping madness. Stores are not decorated, and
there are no reminders of the number of “shopping days” until Christmas. To an
outsider, Christmas is not very different from another other day. The more
important holidays in the Ethiopian Church calendar are Timkat (commemorating the Baptism of
Christ in the Jordan River) and Meskel (commemorating the discovery of the True
Cross by St. Helena.)

Followers

Which of the below descriptions would be most likely to induce you to take a closer look at the book described?

A Heroic King

This, the third book in the Leonidas Trilogy, traces Leonidas rise to power as the Agiad king, and depicts his reign as well as the increasing conflict with Persia that culminates in the clash of arms and culture at Thermopylae.

A Peerless Peer

Book II in the Leonidas Trilogy describes Leonidas' years as an ordinary Sparta citizen, working his way up the ranks. It also introduces Gorgo and follows her development from girl, to maiden, to wife.

A Boy of the Agoge

The first book in the Leonidas Trilogy describes Leonidas' boyhood in the infamous Spartan public school, the agoge.

Where Eagles Never Flew: A Battle of Britain Novel

Radio communication and a highly specialized jargon makes the dialogue in this novel particularly critical.

Axel Frhr. von dem Bussche

One of several young officers prepared to sacrifice his own life in order to assassinate Hitler and put an end to his murderous regime. He makes a cameo appearance in "Hitler's Demons."

"B" Flight, 85 Squadron

When I came across this photo of "B" Flight, 85 Squadron, I recognized Robin, the RAF hero in "Where Eagles Never Flew" immediately.

JG 53 in the Summer of 1940

...one of the Luftwaffe fighter squadron, which fought in the Battle of Britain..

Christian and Deter

Likewise, this photo hit me like deja vu! This photo shows two Luftwaffe fighter pilots take a break during the Battle of Britain: for me they are Christian and Dieter from "Where Eagles Never Flew."

RAF Pilots

...at Readiness during the Battle of Britain.

FOREWORD INDIES AWARD FINALIST 2017

"Envoy of Jerusalem" is a finalist for the Foreword Indies Awards 2017 in the category Wartime and Military Fiction.

FOREWORD INDIES AWARD FINALIST 2017

"Envoy of Jerusalem" is a finalist for the Foreword Indies Awards 2017 in the category Wartime and Military Fiction.

The telling of good deeds is like alms and charity. It is never lost labour but always has its return.
Chandos' Herald, ca. 1385